Kaiser Health Tracking Poll -- June 2010

The start of summer finds Americans remain divided on the health reform law, but favorable views of the new law increased seven percentage points over the past month to 48 percent, compared to 41 percent who have “generally unfavorable” views and 10 percent who have yet to make up their minds.

With four months remaining until the midterm congressional elections, an early look suggests that the contests could be impacted by a number of different issues, with the economy in the lead but health care also in the mix.

Roughly a third (35%) of registered voters say that a candidate who voted for the health reform law will be more likely to get their vote, a third (32%) say such a candidate would be less likely to get their vote, and a third (31%) say the candidate’s vote for the law would not matter either way. The results vary greatly by party identification.

Across political party lines, most Americans believe that the disagreements between candidates of both political parties on the merits of the health reform law stem more from efforts to gain political advantage (65%) than from genuine policy differences (29%).

Support for individual elements of the law reported in earlier tracking polls has not slipped; many remain very popular, including on a bipartisan basis. Those with support from strong, bipartisan majorities of Americans include the health insurance exchange (94% of Democrats (D) have a favorable view, 88% of independents (I), and 77% of Republicans (R)), tax credits to small business (89% D, 79% I, 79% R), assistance with the Medicare doughnut hole (96% D, 77% I, 71% R), high-risk pool for those with pre-existing conditions (85% D, 78% I, 67% R), and insurance subsidies for individuals (90% D, 73% I, 63% R). By far the least popular element asked about is the individual mandate, which is viewed favorably by about a third (34%) of Americans.